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Briar Rayne
Origins Briar Rayne was born into a dirty and dangerous world, one which tragically took her parents away from her at a young age under mysterious circumstances. Police investigating the crime shunted the young girl off to one of London's many orphanages, where she was largely left to fend for herself for a number of years. The tomboyish young girl hated her time in the orphanage and largely kept herself to herself, coldly dismissing many of the other children who tried to make friends with her and spending her nights trying to escape into the wider world. One such flight of fancy resulted in a successful escape, and she was able to steal a small amount of money, some food and a few clothes to set her up for what she envisioned to be her new life. However, life was hard for a young woman on the street, and she swiftly realised that she would need to continue stealing in order to keep herself alive. On a fateful day in 1881, Briar spotted her next target, a wealthy old man in fine clothes with a hint of silver flashing in his pocket. The old man was quicker and sharper than she had anticipated though, and caught her as she was attempting to pick his pocket. She fled, fearing that he would send the police after her, and yet no repercussions came. In fact, a few days later she found that the old man had been asking around about her, offering people money for information about her. Sensing that this strange figure represented some kind of opportunity, Briar tracked him down to his house in West London and introduced herself. He introduced himself in turn as Professor Clifford Armitage, and invited her to stay with him for a while, an offer which she hesitantly accepted. Magic and Mystery Over the next few weeks, Briar helped the Professor out with household tasks in return for food and lodging, and the old man took a shine to her almost immediately. She was fierce and strong, independent and critical in her approach to things, and he saw great potential in her. One night a month into their burgeoning friendship, the Professor invited Briar into his study, a room she had previously not been allowed to enter. All around her were strange artifacts, jars filled with glowing smoke and skulls of creatures she had never witnessed before, and she immediately realised that the Professor was more than just a kindly old scientist. He soon confirmed her suspicions, telling her that he was a high-ranking member of an organisation known as the Merlinine Council of Great Britain, a powerful order which presided over all magical beings and affairs in the world. He opened Briar's eyes to a world of magic and mystery which lay just under the surface of the grimy old world she knew, and she instantly became transfixed. Although he cautioned her that she was not descended from a magical bloodline and would therefore possess no innate magical ability, he told her that there was an important role for her as part of the Council, and welcomed her into his strange and secretive world. Over the next few years, Briar studied extensively under Professor Armitage, devouring every piece of information about the magical world she could get her hands on and becoming a dedicated academic with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and understanding. She accompanied the Professor to meetings of the Council and on various expeditions to sites of magical significance, and regardless of whether these trips were in aid of gathering information or retrieving powerful magical artifacts, she listened intently to the Professor any time he was explaining some new magical concept to her. The Templar Academy By the time she turned 16, Briar was already armed with a wealth of knowledge and insight with regards to the magical world. She knew the Professor's litany of objects and artifacts backwards and forwards, and could recite facts about magical creatures from memory. However, the real test came when she was separated from the Professor on what was supposed to be a routine expedition in Scotland, and came face to face with a shadow-goblin known as a Demiurge, a powerful creature which hungered for human shadows and were known to be deadly in their methods of acquiring them. Drawing upon her extensive knowledge of the Professor's magical menagerie, Briar was able to force the Demiurge into a pool of moonlight, immobilising the creature and allowing her to smash its frozen form into pieces with a shovel. Upon finding her standing over the remains of such a dangerous creature with only a couple of scratches and a few strands of her bright red hair out of place, the Professor knew that she was ready to accept the calling he had foreseen for her. She was entered into the Merlinine Council's Templar Academy, the elite training school for the Council's monster hunting strikeforce. The other students looked down on her due to her lack of magical ability, and yet she quickly showed that she outclassed them all in both academic and physical training, and she brushed off their criticism and condescension with cool disdain and simply continued to be the best. She made a handful of friends in the Academy, mostly gravitating towards the misfits and outcasts including Finella 'Finn' Ulfgard, a phenomenally strong half-'Valkyrie' who towered a good six inches above most of her classmates; and Erlin Everlight, a naive yet optimistic Swamp Elf who often struggled with his clairvoyant abilities. These strange, lost creatures remained close friends of Briar throughout her life, even after graduating from the Academy. At age 18, Briar graduated top of her class and was swiftly inducted into the ranks of the Templars, where she served for less than six months before growing tired of what she saw as the outdated politics of the Council. For one thing, she quickly became aware of an innate sexism within the organisation which favoured male practitioners over female which while commonplace in society at the time, frustrated Briar to no end. She left the ranks of the Templars unceremoniously and made the decision to strike out on her own, a choice fully supported by Professor Armitage even while it was deemed disrespectful by other Council members. Freelancer Understanding the importance of building a reputation, Briar took on any magical job she could find, from retrieving lost artifacts to tasks that she came to think of as 'magical pest removal', disposing of troublesome magical creatures in a safe and humane way. She also took to building a network of contacts by spending her nights in London's various magical drinking dens to find more work and make new contacts. Soon enough, Briar became known as a highly skilled and effective freelancer and she began to take on more and more high-profile work. Her lust for life and the strange mysteries of the magical world is evident to anyone who meets her and although her chosen profession comes with its fair share of dangers and pitfalls, she frequently claims that she would not change it for the world. During this time she also developed a professional rivalry with Thaddeus Morrigan, a black market dealer in magical artifacts and antiquities. Morrigan was frequently hired by rivals to Briar's clients and they often clashed when they inevitably ran into each other during their separate expeditions. One such confrontation resulted in Briar being impaled through the shoulder with a crossbow bolt, an injury which left an ugly scar she still possesses; while the same clash left Morrigan blind in one eye and thirsty for revenge against Briar. Inheritance Her exciting life was hit with tragic change in 1895 when, on an expedition to Peru she received word that Professor Armitage had passed away. She quickly returned to London for the funeral, and at the reading of the will a few days later she discovered that she had been named as his sole beneficiary, and took ownership of his house, his estate in Crosstown and all his earthly (and unearthly) possessions. Although she did not want to give up her life and flourishing career, Briar also recognised her responsibility to the Professor and his vast collection of magical items. She ultimately decided to sell the house and the Crosstown estate, while calling in a favour with the Kingdom of the Dwarves to keep the Professor's collection in one of their mighty, ever-expanding treasure vaults. She would be allowed access whenever she required, making her the first human to ever hold a key to these vaults. The Final Expedition In 1904, Briar Rayne undertook an expedition which would prove to be a decisive one. She was called to travel to an uncharted island in the Arctic Ocean which her client believed could be the lost island of Hyperborea. Upon arriving at the island, Briar discovered that it was not Hyperborea, but Pol Porta, an ancient island thought to house the only doorway that would allow a mortal to enter the Realms of Heaven. However, the expedition proved to be a trap set by Thaddeus Morrigan. The ship she arrived on was destroyed, effectively stranding her on the island, and Morrigan began hunting her through the jungles and mountains of the island, slaughtering many of her crew using a small arsenal of magical weapons. In a fierce final confrontation on the slopes of Mount Ostium at the centre of the island, Briar was ultimately able to overpower Morrigan and hurl him into a chasm in the rockface. Mortally wounded, she dragged herself to the peak of the mountain and watched the sunrise over the Arctic Ocean as she faded away. Back in London, an official death certificate was produced for Briar Rayne in 1911, seven years after her disappearance. As per her last will and testament, her vault in the Kingdom of the Dwarves was locked and her old comrade Finn was charged with protecting it. The Mystery of the Red-Haired Woman In 1961, exactly 50 years after Briar's death was officially declared, Finn went to check on the vault only to find it open and a number of items removed. The dwarven guards told Finn that there were no records of the vault being accessed, and the only key was lost with its owner half a decade ago. However, one young dwarf told Finn that he had seen a strange crimson streak pass through the halls, and upon closer inspection she discovered a note left in the doorway of the vault, in familiar handwriting, which consisted of just two words: 'Miss Me?' In the ensuing years, Finn gathered old friends and allies of Briar and attempted to find her, believing that she had survived her confrontation with Morrigan all those years ago. They found traces and stories of a mysterious red-haired woman intervening in supernatural events around the world, then disappearing before she could be thanked. If this woman was indeed their old friend, she was able to keep two steps ahead of them every time, keeping her identity a secret until a day that changed the world forever. The Drawing of the Veil In 1965 a dark sorcerer named Augustus Crowne began gathering magical artifacts from secret chambers and conclaves around the world for some nefarious purpose. He proved to be a fearsome opponent, unleashing dark magic on his enemies at the slightest provocation and even subduing some of the Merlinine Council's best Templars. As a hoard of powerful magical items, Finn and her allies recognised that Briar's vault was likely to be another of Crowne's targets, and sure enough he came to steal a number of objects, vastly overpowering those who had gathered to guard the vault. However, as he entered he was greeted with a blast of pure Dragonfire to the chest, which threw him off his feet and stunned him. The gathered crowd looked up to see none other than Briar Rayne herself, seemingly unaged from the last time they saw her, step out of the vault wielding a shotgun loaded with magical shells. Crowne was able to escape before Briar could inflict any more damage on him, and Finn firmly embraced her old friend. However, Briar refused to talk about the past 50 years, instead becoming totally focused on stopping Crowne. She pursued the dark sorcerer to the remote Castle Ødeleggelse '''in '''Svarheim, Norway and encountered agents of UNION and the great hero known as Pantheon, all of whom were attempting to stop Crowne as his ritual began to warp the world around them. Briar proved instrumental in the ensuing battle, facing down the dark creature known as Oblivion and effectively distracting Crowne long enough for Pantheon to drag him through the tear in the veil between worlds, trapping herself, Crowne and Oblivion away from the mortal realm. In the aftermath, Briar rounded up the magical items that Crowne had collected and stored them in her vault, against the wishes of both the Merlinine Council and UNION. The Lost Years With the assistance of a very stiff drink after the encounter in Svarheim, Finn and Erlin managed to get Briar to open up about the 50 years she was missing. She told them that in the aftermath of her confrontation with Morrigan she did effectively die at the peak of Mount Ostium. However, as her blood had been spilled on sacred ground, her soul was to be judged at the gates of Heaven and she entered a state of Purgatory, which she described as being much like a cosmic waiting room. Bored of waiting, Briar called on her experience escaping from the orphanage when she was younger, and miraculously managed to escape from Purgatory and reclaim her body. She quickly found that, with her soul in a state of flux, the mortal wounds on her body healed up and she seemed unable to be physically harmed by normal means. Over time, she realised that she had also stopped aging, and believed that it was possible that she may be functionally immortal. She managed to make her way back to civilisation and found that she had been gone for close to 40 years, and that the world had changed significantly. Hiding herself away in the shadows, she elected to learn more about the new world and continue where she had left off before the fateful expedition to Pol Porta. UNION Consultant In the aftermath of the Drawing of the Veil, Briar came to terms with the fact that she could not operate in anonymity any more, and reluctantly accepted an offer from UNION-M, the magical division of UNION to operate as a consultant. She would be allowed to continue operating as she had before, on an independent freelance basis, but UNION-M would have priority over her time if her services were required. Although occasionally frustrating, this relationship has proven to be mutually beneficial and has continued since the early 1970s.